What was claimed
A picture shows the moment US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents shot Alex Pretti.
Our verdict
Although this image comes from a still of the real video of the shooting, it has been enhanced with artificial intelligence.
A widely shared image that appears to show US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents shooting Alex Pretti in Minneapolis over the weekend has been enhanced with artificial intelligence (AI).
Although the image looks similar to a still of a genuine video of the incident, AI has been used to enhance the screengrab, creating an image in which an ICE agent’s head and hands are missing and a leg has blended into a gun on the ground.
The image has been shared [warning: distressing content] thousands of times online.
Genuine videos from the scene, verified by media outlets, show Mr Pretti falling to the ground next to a federal agent holding a handgun. However, the details of this exact moment in the original video (around 1:03 in this video) are blurry.
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The picture being shared has been enhanced using AI, as much of the general shapes match the blurrier, real video footage. However, AI has included several hallucinations when attempting to enhance the still image, resulting in missing and deformed body parts on the ICE agent kneeling on the ground.
In the video, the bottom left hand corner shows the bottom of a man’s boot, whereas the AI-enhanced version has turned that into something that looks more like a jagged piece of rock or muddy block of ice. The ICE agent wearing a beanie hat holding a handgun has his hand where the kneeling officer’s head should be, and that kneeling officer doesn’t have visible hands.
Professor Hany Farid, who specialises in digital forensics, misinformation and image analysis at the University of California, Berkeley, and is Chief Science Officer at GetReal Security told AFP that the image was an AI-enhanced version of real video frame.
Former Sky News presenter Kay Burley also shared the picture on X, calling it a “deeply troubling image” but later in response to a tweet saying it was AI-generated, said “Words matter. Like the difference between photo and image.”
US federal and state authorities have offered conflicting versions of what happened in the moments leading to the shooting. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem reportedly said Mr Pretti was shot because he was “brandishing” a gun, but local authorities have denied this, saying he was shot after his legally-registered firearm was taken from him.
Before sharing images you see on social media during breaking news events, stop to consider whether they are genuine. Our toolkit and guide on spotting AI can help.
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